1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to alerting systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for alerting a cockpit crew of terrorist activities occurring in a cabin of an aircraft.
2. Description of Related Art
The terrorist acts of Sep. 11, 2001 have changed commercial aviation. One of the primary reasons the hijackers of Sep. 11, 2001 were successful in overcoming the cockpit crew of four commercial airliners was the cockpit crew were caught off guard. During each of the incidents, the hijackers overcame some of the flight attendants without the cockpit crew being made aware of the situation. With a closed door dividing the aircraft cabin from the cockpit, most activity taking place within the cabin goes unmonitored by the cockpit crew. In most hijacks, such as those that occurred on Sep. 11, 2001, the hijackers easily overcame some of the flight attendants located in the aircrafts"" cabins, allowing the hijackers to direct their efforts in overcoming the cockpit crew through surprise. Currently, the only means the flight attendants have with communicating any information to the cockpit crews is through fixed intercom devices located at flight attendant stations through the aircraft. However, if a flight attendant is not located near the flight attendant station, a flight attendant is unable to communicate with the cockpit crew. In addition, even if a flight attendant is located near a flight attendant station, the flight attendant may be unable to quickly and covertly communicate with the cockpit crew. Existing intercom systems only allow the flight attendants to chime the cockpit crew to alert the cockpit crew that the flight attendants desire to speak with them. The cockpit crew must then select the internal intercom on their headsets and respond to the flight attendants. Obviously, this process can be time consuming and useless during a hijacking.
In addition, even with access to the flight attendant station""s intercom system, the flight attendant cannot covertly communicate with the cockpit crew. The flight attendant""s actions in attempting to communicate with the cockpit crew cannot currently be concealed, causing many flight attendants to be reluctant in attempting to communicate with the cockpit crew during terrorist encounters. A system and method are needed which provides a simple, quick, and covert process for alerting the cockpit crew of any terrorist activities occurring within an aircraft""s cabin.
Although there are no known prior art teachings of a solution to the aforementioned deficiency and shortcoming such as that disclosed herein, a prior art reference that discuss subject matter that bears some relation to matters discussed herein is U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,035 to Stahl et al. (Stahl).
Stahl discloses an alarm system for sensing an alarm condition within a relevant alarm area. The system includes one or more alarm units utilized for sensing an alarm condition. Each alarm unit includes a radio frequency transmitter for identifying the alarm unit and a secondary audio transmitter for defining the relevant alarm area. The system also includes a plurality of transponders. Each transponder includes a primary receiver for receiving a radio message sent from an alarm unit and a secondary receiver for receiving an audio signal from the alarm unit. A real-time clock is used to provide elapsed time between receipt of a primary and a secondary alarm signal by each transponder. The alerted transponder then transmits to a control unit a transponder address code, an alarm unit identification code and an elapsed time indicator. Based on the address code and the elapsed times detected by the control unit, the relevant alarm area can be determined. Although Stahl discloses an alerting system, Stahl does not teach or suggest a method of covertly informing a central area (i.e., cockpit deck) of a warning. Additionally, Stahl does not disclose utilizing such a warning system within an aircraft. Stahl also does not provide for transmitting several coded messages to indicate various types of situations to the control unit. Stahl merely provides a singular signal to the control unit.
Thus, it would be a distinct advantage to have a system and method which provide a plurality of distinct covert coded signals for alerting the cockpit crew of terrorist activities occurring within the cabin. In addition, it would be advantageous to have a system and method which also automatically informs ground-based controllers of any attempted terrorist activities. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a system and method.
In one aspect, the present invention is a system for alerting a cockpit crew of a dangerous situation occurring on an aircraft. The system includes a plurality of fobs. Each fob is carried by an authorized person located on the aircraft. The fob is a portable transmitter capable of sending a coded signal. A cockpit display unit (CDU) is provided for receiving signals sent from the transmitting fob. The CDU is located within a cockpit of the aircraft. When one of the authorized persons carrying the fob detects a dangerous situation, he may send a signal from the fob to the CDU. The CDU provides an indicator informing the cockpit crew of the dangerous situation.
In another aspect, the present invention is a method of alerting a cockpit crew located in an aircraft of a dangerous activity on the aircraft. The method begins with initializing a plurality of fobs to allow a cockpit display unit (CDU) located within a cockpit of the aircraft to recognize any signals transmitted by each initialized fob. Next, each initialized fob is carried by a flight crew member during the flight of the aircraft. A signal is transmitted from the fob to the CDU when a flight crew member detects a dangerous activity occurring aboard the aircraft. The CDU then displays an indication to the cockpit crew that a signal was sent from the fob.
In still another aspect, the present invention is a system for alerting a cockpit crew of a dangerous situation occurring on an aircraft. The system includes a plurality of fobs carried by a plurality of authorized personnel located on the aircraft. Each fob is capable of transmitting a plurality of codes correlating to specific conditions occurring on the aircraft as a signal. The system also includes a cockpit display unit (CDU) for receiving signals sent from a transmitting fob. The CDU is located within a cockpit of the aircraft. An antenna sending unit (ASU) located within a cabin of the aircraft relays any transmitted signals to the CDU. The system also relays the signal sent from the transmitting fob to ground-based personnel. When one of the authorized personnel detects a dangerous situation, a signal is sent through the fob to the CDU. The CDU then provides an indicator to the cockpit crew of the dangerous situation.